STILL LIFE - K

 What a monumental task I set for myself today.  I didn't really think about the problems with the stainless steel reflective surface of my kettle.  At first  I thought I'd really attempt all of the reflections, including myself in there.  But, no, the roof of the gazebo was weird looking.  So, I didn't even attempt to do myself.  I settled for doing a partial reflection.  Unfortunately, I think it looks wrong the way it is.  But, that's the way it's going to be.  [Unless I change it.]

I took a picture of the drawing I did to begin.  I think I'm getting better.

The sun actually came out today and it was wonderful!  I had to take a picture of the new flowers I planted the other day - Rudbeckia and another Coneflower.  

SATURDAY SLOW

 We went for a nice walk this morning finally.  It's been over a week since we've been able to do much outside because of the unhealthy air quality from the wildfires.  It's amazing how much the season had changed everything since we were last at Lincoln Park.  I love the fall colors.

Back home, I planted the Coral Honeysuckle plant I bought from a dealer in Florida through Etsy.  Live long and prosper little plant.  I placed it next to the deck.  The plan is it will grow up and along the railing and have a beautiful fragrance, and it should attract hummingbirds, too.

We've had rain the last few days (which cleaned the air), but we realized we should have picked our beans (Hidatsa Reds) before they get too wet.  

After we picked the dried shells off the plants we laid them out in the shop to dry.  Once dry, we'll husk them.

STILL LIFE - J

 Here is my Still Life oil painting for the letter J:

It started raining just before lunch and by the time I got out to my easel under the gazebo it was really coming down.  It was wonderful.  Hopefully, it will clean some of the smoke out of the air.

Before lunch I got the binding finished on the Yuki quilt and I started putting some of the pieces together on the Floating Squares project.

STILL LIFE - I

 The smoke has finally lessened enough that I could get back to my outside painting of Still Lifes.  

Today's letter is I:

Before all that wonderful stuff above, I was in the studio putting bindings on quilts:

I also made the binding and sewed it onto the back on the Yuki quilt.  I forgot to take pictures though.

FINALLY FINISHED H PAINTING

 Wow, I think it's been a while since I painted outside.  The air quality has been so bad from the smoke from fires, here and in California and Oregon.  We've been advised to stay inside.  The few times I spent a little time outdoors I'd end up with a sore throat and lungs and a headache.  I've missed painting.

So, here is the H painting I started way back on last Friday, the 11th. I'm not very happy with it.  I just wanted to get it done and move on.

QUILTED YUKI

 I got my order of Hobbs Tuscany Cotton/Wool blend batting.  I thought I'd try it out, it sounds interesting.  I set up the Yuki quilt on my longarm and quilted a pantograph.  It didn't take long. I was done before lunch.  But, it did take longer than it should have.  My machine kept losing it's mind and not understanding where it should be when I'd roll the quilt.  It did it three times.  I had to shut everything off and clear it then restart and reset it up.  Luckily, I had picked an easy panto that didn't need a lot of tweaking.  It's called Ginger Snap.

101 DONATIONS

 I donated my 101st pint of blood today.  

MORE WORK ON FLOATING SQUARES

 I worked a bit on my Floating Squares project from yesterday's workshop.

FLOATING SQUARES WORKSHOP

 I attended the Floating Squares Zoom Workshop with Sherri Lynn Wood today.  It started at 8am and I was upstairs in the studio until about 3pm.  It was great fun and the day went very fast.

Here's what was on my work wall at the end of the day:

Sherri Lynn has started a group called Brave Patch,  I joined up today.  Hopefully, it will be fun and help me with my journey to learn more.

I didn't get to work on my oil painting today, mainly because of the smokey conditions.  It was too unhealthy to be outside and we were advised to stay indoors.  The sky was sickly yellow all day.  It's eerily creepy and unsettling.

NEW IRON - LAURASTAR

 I splurged and got a new iron, a Laurastar Lift.  It was on sale.

Lots of steam, all the time.  And hopefully, no leaks.

STILL LIFE - G

 In the morning I quilted the Pegasus quilt.  It's small and I helped the computer do it.  It didn't take long.

After lunch, I finished up the G Still Life.  I really like this one.

FINISHING F STILL LIFE

This morning, after the high winds yesterday, I discovered that both paintings I had left outside under the gazebo were covered with little bits of tree debris and dirt.  Aaargh.

I spent the morning fixing the E Still Life painting and fixing a nd finishing the F Still Life.  I'm much happier with the F now.  (I wasn't liking it at first).

I started working on the G Still Life:

STILL LIFE - F

 I started on my Still Life for F this morning.  It's very windy.  I got it started and was not happy with it.  The wind and the heat got to me so I quit for the day and went inside.

I looked out later, I saw that the wind had blown the painting off the easel.  It was face down on the patio.  It was covered with little particles.  Dang.

STILL LIFE - E

 I worked most of the afternoon after lunch on this.  At the last minute I changed the background to a dark yellow.  It had been a lighter yellow.  Now, I'm not so sure if I don't like the lighter better.

CHANGED DUCK AGAIN

 I didn't like the background as it was, so I scrumbled it. 

It's better, but I still don't like it.  There's something wrong with the colors.

STILL LIFE - D CONTINUED

 Well, since September has 30 days and the Alphabet only 26 letters, I've got 4 days I wasn't sure what to do with.  So, since I was really not happy with yesterday's D, I thought I'd just work on it today.  The point was to paint every day, so I am painting even if it's the same letter.  Right?d

I re-painted the background before we went to lunch.

We had lunch at the Junction and then I picked up some black oil paint at NW Art and Frame.  I used it to repaint the dial.  It's much better now.  I also fixed the duck.  I'm happier.

DOG DROP OFF

 On our morning walk in Lincoln Park, I dropped my painted rock with the dog on it in a hiding spot.

Good luck, Doggy!

I gessoed the boards I had wrapped with fabric the other day. 

STILL LIFE - D

 I worked on my D Still Life today.  When I left it I was not happy with it. I need some black and I'm not happy with the horrible brown that I made.

 I'm thinking I'll work on it tomorrow.  Maybe I'll go to the Junction and get some real black paint.

STILL LIFE - C

 Here is letter C Still Life in oil.  Darrell let me use his old Brownie camera from his youth.

FINISHED QUILTING RIBBONS

 I told D this morning that come hell or high water I was going to finish the quilting on my Ribbons quilt.  And I did.  Yoohoo!

I still have to bury some threads and bind it.

STILL LIFE - B

 Here's day two, letter B Still Life in oil:

I had wrapped the hard board in that blue and white paisley fabric.  As I was painting along, I figured I'd just leave it exposed. 

LUNCH WITH MOM

I haven't seen my Mom in months.  We decided to have a lunch date.

I made baked salmon, white bean and cherry tomato side dish and a tomato tart.

We had fun.

 

STILL LIFE - A

 It's September.  I am going to paint a still life each day, one a day, for the month.  I'm using the 10" by 10" pieces of hardboard that Darrell cut for me years ago.  The stack has been sitting there waiting for me all this time.  It's about time.

I am going to do a letter of the alphabet each day, starting with A.   And, I decided to do some with oil.  This first one is oil paints.

Here is A:

SEPTEMBER ONE

 What a beautiful morning.  We went for a walk in Lincoln Park.  I left a few of my painted rocks out in the wild.  I also noticed that the snail is not where I left it, too.

Back home, Yuki has discovered the fish in the pond.